| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: accused of wanting to support and advance the Catholic religion--one
would think the accusation was very unnecessary, seeing that their
actual dealings were with the philosopher's stone, and the exorcism
of spirits: and that the first apostle of the new golden
Rosicrucian order, one Schropfer, getting into debt, and fearing
exposure, finished his life in an altogether un-catholic manner at
Leipsic in 1774, by shooting himself;--of Keller and his Urim and
Thummim;--of Wollner (who caught the Crown Prince Frederick William)
with his three names of Chrysophiron, Heliconus, and Ophiron, and
his fourth name of Ormesus Magnus, under which all the brethren were
to offer up for him solemn prayers and intercessions;--of Baron
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: take interest, in which he took not some; and yet always most in
the strong human bonds, ancient as the race and woven of delights
and duties.
He was even an anxious father; perhaps that is the part where
optimism is hardest tested. He was eager for his sons; eager for
their health, whether of mind or body; eager for their education;
in that, I should have thought, too eager. But he kept a pleasant
face upon all things, believed in play, loved it himself, shared
boyishly in theirs, and knew how to put a face of entertainment
upon business and a spirit of education into entertainment. If he
was to test the progress of the three boys, this advertisement
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: general notion of them?
Very good.
Will not the desire of eating, that is, of simple food and condiments, in
so far as they are required for health and strength, be of the necessary
class?
That is what I should suppose.
The pleasure of eating is necessary in two ways; it does us good and it is
essential to the continuance of life?
Yes.
But the condiments are only necessary in so far as they are good for
health?
The Republic |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: against offenders. The most important of their laws related to their
dealings with one another. They were not to take up arms against one
another, and were to come to the rescue if any of their brethren were
attacked. They were to deliberate in common about war, and the king was
not to have the power of life and death over his kinsmen, unless he had the
assent of the majority.
For many generations, as tradition tells, the people of Atlantis were
obedient to the laws and to the gods, and practised gentleness and wisdom
in their intercourse with one another. They knew that they could only have
the true use of riches by not caring about them. But gradually the divine
portion of their souls became diluted with too much of the mortal
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